angusmccoll

I arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday afternoon and today I have visited the inside of the Australian Embassy’s interview room and now I’m waiting at the local police station to file a report. It’s now 5pm so that is my day filled.

My backpack was stolen this morning while I was having breakfast at a cafe on a busy street. My backpack carrying my passport, camera, iPod and other stuff was at my feet when a man and woman came up to me asking directions. While I was helping them, somebody grabbed my bag from behind and ran off. The man I was talking to said they ran off in a direction so I went looking. I now suspect he and the woman were part of the ruse and of course the thieves had made off in the other direction. This was a professional sting and there will be no chance of recovery.

I have been to the Embassy and have organised an emergency passport, which I can get in days but it only has a few pages meaning I’m limited to the number of countries I can now visit on the way home. For insurance reasons I’m trying to file a report but things are very slow in the police station. Plus I need an interpreter. Interestingly I’m not that concerned at losing the camera apart from the cost to replace it. The photos of most interest to me are already lost so the rest has little emotional value.

And I payed $100 US for the privilege of this experience. Australians pay an entry fee to visit Argentina. We also pay an exit fee. The exit fee I will gladly pay that and I look forward to it.

I’m supposed to be in Buenos Aires today but I’m not. I got up at sparrows and to the airport in plenty of time to be told my early morning flight had been cancelled. Volcanic ash is the problem. Those in the know rush to get onto one of the other five flights available with this airline. LAN provide seven flights to Buenos Aries from Santiago on most days I believe and today, the first two were cancelled. By the time I worked out how things are done here there were no flights left with space so I have been placed on a plane tomorrow. So it’s back into Santiago and back to the hostel I know.

How to deal with trying to sleep in a busy mall.

I spend the day just fluffing about town. There was no plan to the day but to just wait out for my flight tomorrow. I’m anxious to get to Buenos Aires because everyone raves about it. I haven’t heard a bad word about the place.

Santiago is made up of the very old and the modern, often side-by-side.

Travelling home tonight on the subway my train came to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Surely the volcanic ash has’t affected the trains as well! Time passed then an announcement came over the intercom in Spanish. My only chance of understanding what was happening was to examine the body language and facial expressions of other passengers. Their lack of stress was reassuring. The train then backed up to the last station. The doors shot open and security people or police jumped in. Interesting! They bounced out again and rushed off in a direction given to them by one of the passengers. The intercom blurted some more Spanish, the doors closed and we moved on. Nobody seemed too concerned.

Santiago is the capital of Chile and is one of South America’s biggest cities with a population of about 7.5 million. It’s located inland just east of the port city of Valparaiso. Santiago was founded by a Spanish conquistador by the name of Pedro de Valdivia in 1541. He obviously didn’t seek the permission of the local Indians because they nearly destroyed the city at the start. Today it is a large urban sprawl comprising a mix of very old and very modern – a mix of classic Spanish architecture and contemporary architecture. Splattered amongst all this are many park areas that seem well patronised, especially on weekends. Santiago has a very sophisticated subway system that is easy to use. This works with a very busy bus system and a metro card works for both. It is a simple and user-friendly system. I’ve worked out the subway so it must be simply – colour coordinated.

Talking about old buildings, there is a very old abandoned stone building on my path to the subway. It has obvious structural floors from one too many earthquake experiences. It is fenced off to keep people out. This morning when I walked past there was fresh rubble from the building on the path. Parts had fallen off overnight! Isn’t that a bit worrying?

The Virgin Mary looking her best on a beautiful Sunday morning.

There is hill fairly central to the city that has a large statue of the Virgin Mary atop. It seems very South American to have a statue of Jesus or Mary located on the best real-estate in town. With Mary are cafes, markets and of course a church. It seems to be a very popular Sunday morning thing to do to ride your bike, jog or walk to the top of this hill and get your nutritional, caffeine, physical and spiritual fix all in one. You can also choose to drive or catch a trolley cart to the top. It gets very crowded up here. Bikes are everywhere vying for what little space there is. I did witness a bit if bike rage. I doubt that Mary would approve. Anyway, away from the bikes and up several flights of stairs you can sit at Mary’s feet in peace and quiet. It was nice and people were quietly paying their respects.

They have a traditional drink in Chile called mote con huesillo. It was being drunk by many of the bike riders so I pointed at one and gestured that I would like to try one as well. It’s unusual. It is made up of two stewed whole peaches and a boiled wheat like grain, all in a sweet peach-tea type juice. It’s a meal in itself and obviously very popular. I liked it.

A mote con huesillo

A talk to some locals who have lived in Santiago for 15 years and they love the place. Perhaps my initial view of the city has been a bit harsh. The city, and Chile, is doing very well economically but they admit there are some political problems.

I’ve just eaten something I thought was capsicum. It’s not. I’m breathing fire! Strewth! Fortunately there is plenty of beer on hand!

I’m having a beer and dinner at a cafe-bar across the road from a park. Its not far from where I am staying. There is a lot of activity there, some of it a bit bizarre! There are a group of singers singing to pre-recorded music. They are very good and probably opera trained. There are tenors and sopranos belting their lungs out, but to a largely indifferent audience. Kids with skateboards, dogs, ice-cream carts and more pass by between them and their small audience. Next to them is a young band on electric guitars doing their best and on the corner are a bunch of guys practicing their drums. Quite a confusing mixture of sounds.

I wander around Santiago again today. Unfortunately I haven’t given myself anytime to leave the city. I’m only here for four days before flying out to Buenos Aries. I don’t find Santiago a comfortable tourist-friendly place. It’s fairly dirty, police and army are a constant and there is angry graffiti over everything. Nothing is spared, not even the public art. Not a lot of respect is shown, indicating a society that isn’t entirely at ease with itself – to me anyway. There was plenty of graffiti in Peru also but I didn’t get the same sense of unease. Chilians certainly don’t love their dogs as much as Peruvians. There are many unkept muts everywhere. Can you judge a society by the way they treat their dogs?

I had intended on watching the changing of the guards at the presidential palace this morning but they moved the palace and I couldn’t find it, not until way too late.

I try out the metro today, just getting off randomly and having a look around but I don’t find anything very interesting. The beautiful Andes mountains are a constant backdrop, as they were in Peru and I guess they are anywhere on the west coast of South America.

The food I have had here is ordinary. While there are some great culinary ideas on the menus, they put way too much salt in everything. And I have seen customers add even more salt. I woke up in the middle of last night completely parched with no bottled water handy. I wasn’t game to drink from the tap so I had to wait it out until morning. I won’t make the same mistake again.

A talented bunch of operatic singers playing to an indifferent crowd in the park.

I discover my iPhone clock is two hours behind. There is a 2-hour difference between Lima and Santiago and I didn’t know! All day yesterday I was two hours behind. That explains a few things!

Today was some more walking around Santiago. The Presidential Palace was impressive as you would expect. He doesn’t live here. It is just his formal city residence. The ceremonial changing of the guard happens here every second day.

Santiago is a little restless at the moment. University students are protesting against high fees. They are on strike and marching through the streets. Protest messages are all over the place.

Santiago is a mix of the very old and the new. Like Peru grand Spanish architecture dominates the city but a little less looked after. Perhaps Chilians have a lesser respect for their colonial past. Catholicism is clearly the dominating religion here with old Catholic churches everywhere. They are grand and I never tire of them despite having no spiritual interest in their existence. Some have huge cracks in their structure from recent earthquakes and I would feel more uncomfortable than usual being inside.

Many of the old buildings are wearing the stresses of earthquake damage from past years and there doesn’t seem to be any great effort to repair them. Santiago has seen a few earthquakes in recent times. The most recent was in February last year.

As per the flight schedule I arrive in Santiago at around 3.30am. I get a shuttle service to my hostel in town but it is way too early to checkin so I leave my backpack (reeking of alcohol from a bottle of Arequepa liquore broken in transit) at the hostel and go for a walk. It’s chilly in Chile, freezing in fact! What mugger would be out in this at this stupid time of the day? Fortunately my hunch was right and I share the cold streets only with people on the way to work. A young couple asked me for directions! I laughed. A full moon provides plenty of light. I have a map of sorts so I manage to find my way into Santiago’s empty Plaza der Armas. The cold is over-bearing and I find refuse in the busy train station for a while before making my way back to the hostel to wait it out for check-in time.

After checkin I go back to visit the Plaza der Armas, in the daylight! And a walk around the endless alleys of shops. I don’t see many tourists around. Perhaps Santiago has little appeal for tourists, or perhaps they are in a different part of town.

The electrical plugs in Chile are different to Peru and I desperately need an adapter so I can recharge my phone. After walking miles with no chance of finding one I go back to the hostel to have the attendant explain that I can get one from the supermarket across the road! She was right.

I’m buggered. I’ve had little sleep over the last 24 hours so I siesta for most of the afternoon.

Today hasn’t been a good one. I’ve just discovered that I have lost a heap of photos. The marvels of digital technology eh? Over 200 images have just digitally disintegrated. Which ones? Try to imagine of all the places I have visited, which photos I would least like to lose and you’ve guessed it. Matchupicchu, Cusco, first arrival to Lima, as well as the last part of my travels through the US. Oh well…they’re only photos right? I haven’t worked out how it has happened yet so how can I know it won’t happen again? What is the bloody point of lugging this bloody heavy camera around if it’s going to bloody decide which bloody photos it’s going to keep and which ones it’s going to spit out!

Peru dogs remind me of Bali dogs. There is something about them that make them stand out from dogs in other places and I can’t quite put my finger in it. Peruvians love there dogs and there are many of them. Everywhere I go they are in the cities, villages and farms. They are part of the family but there is more too them than just animal companions. In the cities I see them negotiate a hectic city life with the greatest of confidence and awareness. I’ve seen them cross a crazy 6-lane road with ease. They wait at the roads edge to assess the situation before making their move. Some don’t quite get it right and cop a horn blast from motorists.

Around the neighborhoods they roam the streets and parks, often alone but often with their owners. There is something human in the way they behave. And it’s not just me with this view. Other travelers have made equal comments. I haven’t had the same sense with dogs in Australia (although there are exceptions, yes Sky I’m talking about you) or the US. Like Bali dogs, Peruvian dogs are vaccinated against rabies and they show this off by wearing a red or blue colar.

This is a Peruvian breed of dog and is completely hairless.

More attempts were made to retrieve my lost photos but to no avail – easy come, easy go! It’s going to be an effort to bother with the camera again, although I find it hard to not look at things through the camera’s eye. Maybe that has to change. No doubt I will get back into taking photos but my relationship with my camera has been irreparably damaged. I no longer trust it and what is a relationship without trust?

I fly out for Santiago tonight at 10pm with TAC airlines so the day is mainly spent trying more great food and packing. I love the food here but if you ask me what I have eaten, I probably couldn’t tell you. The local beer is nice too.

Oh, and we watched Chile defeat Peru to knock them out of the soccer world cup…again. It was 20 years ago that Peru made it into the world cup. They were quietly confident this time because Argentina defeated Chile 4-1. Sadly it wasn’t to be but there were moments and those moments could be loudly heard across the neighborhood. Chile played the stronger game.

Packing done and I fly out for Santiago as planned. Not planned is may delayed visit to Chile. I have spent more time in Peru than indicated on my itinerary leaving little time in Chile before flying to Buenos Aries. Unfortunately there will be little time for going beyond Santiago. If I was to plan this trip again I would probably spend less time in the US and more time in South America. That said, I did enjoy having a look at the US. I came away with an interesting sense of the place. Whether accurate or not in such a short time it is a different picture to what we see portrayed through the television screen – something you can only get by visiting the place.

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru behind Lima and has a population of over one million people and two million dogs (just guessing). This city is a bit different to other places in Peru in that it’s origins have no Inca connections. It’s purely a Spanish idea. I suspect they built it here to service the surrounding mining industry. The people don’t identify themselves with Inca heritage so tend to distance themselves culturally from the peoples of surrounding regions. They even attempted to declare themselves a separate region within Peru. That didn’t happen but there are many things here that are distinctly Arequipa and not found or done elsewhere. They have their own foods, chocolates and alcohols. Some say the chocolate from here is better than Swiss chocolate. Research has concluded they could be right, however the question will require more scrutiny. They are a proud people.

Arequipa and this whole region is geologically active. The city is surrounded by volcanoes, some still quietly active. And the region has had it’s share if earthquakes. Every village and city have their own earthquake story. Arequipa was severely damaged in the 1830s and underwent considerable reconstruction. The latest was in 2001. There are no high-rise buildings here, just multi-storied ones.

Today I visit and old monastery. The Monasterio de Santa Catalina (or the Santa Catalina Monastery) is a complex citadel within the city. It has it’s own streets and is separated from the rest of the city of Arequipa by imposing stone walls. The Monastery was founded in 1580 by a rich widow who was careful to select her nuns from the best Spanish family’s. A tour through the old monastery revealed a side of life completely foreign to me. I just can’t get my head around this stuff – a surrendering of a normal life to a religious cause.

But I doubt all of the nuns went into this vocation voluntarily. Families were motivated to donate at least one of their girls to the monastery so they, the family, would be assured a blessed life. For a while though, the surrender of a normal life wasn’t entire complete. Nuns had servants and slaves, and hosted parties and visiting musicians. That came to a sudden stop when the Pope got wind of the liberal life here and sent in his big guns in the form of Sister Josepha Cadena. She freed the servants and slaves, some of whom stayed on as nuns. The Monastery remained behind closed doors and mysterious until it was opened in 1970 to the public and tourism, as per the instructions of the Mayor or Arequipa. Today the old Monastery is a museum and a visit there gives you a beautiful insight into how life was for the nuns. The monastery is still operating in new buildings next door.

One of the streets in the monastery.

Peruvian Airlines took me back to Lima, arriving at 11pm. Thus airline is one if the cheaper options for flying in South America but they run rarely on time.

I have had another ‘tears to the eyes’ experience today and the magnificent condors are responsible.

The day starts with breakfast at 5am then onto the bus and off by 6.30am. Why so early? We have to be at a certain location where the condors are known to live. For a brief moment in the day they soar, catching the thermals thrown up by the Colca canyon and we have to time our arrival for then.

As already mentioned, Chivay sits near the head of the Colca Canyon. Already the canyon is deep here but this is only the start of the Colca River’s mighty work. The road we are on follows the canyon. On the way we pass through villages, each with their striking old church and town square. We are not the only bus on this path to the condors. Every stop we make at a village or look-out is in company with many other tour buses and of course local markets. There are always some ladies done up in traditional dress who are happy to provide you with a traditional experience for a small fee. Some even have a Llama with them for added appeal. I have heard that Llamas spit in defense. I saw my first Llama spit today and it was hilarious. This poor thing was surrounded by patting tourists and it had obviously had enough. It let blast. The victim was a young boy who came along at the wrong time. Everyone around laughed. It is more of a very wet sneeze than a spit!

For an added feature at this village it is possible to have your photo taken with an eagle. These huge beautiful birds of prey obeyed every command given by the handler, which was to sit on the arms or heads of paying customers. Photos would be taken and the handlers would swiftly shunt the birds onto the next customer – very slick operation!

Pay extra and you can get a Llama and eagle experience together!

At this end of the canyon it is a wide open valley that is utilized fully by farmers. Incas introduced serious terracing up the sides of impossible slopes as well as water channelling. Apparently water channels that were built 1,500 years ago are still being used today. The terraced farming is amazing to see and reminds me a bit of the manicured mountain slopes in Nepal. Much of the terracing has been let to deteriorate as labour shortages makes maintenance difficult. The young men are moving to the cities or taking up jobs with the mines (sounds familiar). Everything is grown here. I have heard that there are 3,000 types if potatoes grown in Peru. I think a lit of them are grown here, as well as grains of all sorts. The views from the road overlooking this valley of terraces and villages is testament to man’s ability to utilise any resource. This vally is a patchwork of colours as different crops are at different levels of maturity.

The road winds precariously in the edge if and escarpment until we finally round a corner to get to the condor viewing park. There are already tens of busses and hundreds if tourists there! What a site. Anyway the condors are playing their part and sail pass the masses as if by instruction or remote control. Despite the overwhelming chaotic company it it still awesome to look up and see these huge magnificent birds of prey soaring within meters of your head. It was another special moment for me. They have that distinctive splayed wing tips where the large feathers finger out. Just striking! There were quite a few of them here circling for prey but it was all for a brief amount of time. After an hour or two they leave the skies and the buses pack up their passengers and away they go.

The canyon at this site is extraordinarily rugged and steep and you can just see the Colca River busily working away at the very bottom. There isn’t any farming here. At certain points the canyon reaches 3,000 meters deep, which is much deeper than the Grand Canyon.

We get back to Arequepa at 4pm

The terraced slopes of the Colca Valley.